Paint by Number
by MourningWolf95
Summary: Discontinued: Please read final chapter for important information!
1. And So It Begins

**Author Notes:** Hi, peoples! :D *waves excitedly* Wow, haven't uploaded anything in quite some time, huh? Sure has been a while. Been busy with a whole bunch of other cool stuff. I can't wait 'till next year! My library's going to have an anime mini-con and then I _might_ go to my very first real anime convention! Woohoo! :D :D Happy happy!

But that's totally beside the point. What I have here is a (in my mind) really, really cool story! :D And it's actually based off of **Tora Marikama**'s idea of taking all the characters from _9_, turning them into humans, and sticking them in a mental institution (or something along those lines). _**THANK YOU, TORA!**_ FREE COOKIES FOR YOU! :P However, while I am using the same, basic idea for my story, it is NOT the same! The plot's are (I believe) completely different. (If they somehow ended up the same, it's a complete accident and I will probably work on changing that very quickly.)

So, basically, my story takes the characters from _9_ and tosses them into an alternate world where they are very human (and no, the world has _not_ been wiped out by crazy machines trying to take over the earth or what-not). I have thrown in an OC simply because he's very important to the plot and such. Some of the characters may be a bit out of character, but I'm doing my best to keep them in character as much as possible. Except Nine. He's going to have to wait a few chapters before he gets his old personality back.

Also, just a note for everyone reading this, you may notice that I tend to focus on one or two characters at a time. This is because I have trouble keeping track of more than two or three characters all at once. I'm doing my best but I really don't write nearly as well as when I only have to keep an eye on up to three characters. This means that most of the story will probably be focused on Nine, Ten, and Five (since those are my favorites! XD). I refuse to accept flames on this subject (or any flames at all, for that fact) and (maybe) a bit of constructive criticism would be welcomed. However, that won't change the fact that I'm much better off with focusing on only a few characters at a time.

Okay, have fun!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters from the movie _9_! NOT MINE! D: Wish I could even come close to doing something that cool, but I can't. I do, however, own Ten. IS MINE! :D

_**Paint by Number**_

Chapter 1

_And So It Begins..._

Five grinned to himself as he squirmed excitedly in his chair. Well, his name wasn't really 'Five', but that was what he was called. He, along with the others in his group, insisted on calling each other by their numbers. None of them wanted anyone to know their names for various reasons. None of them ever questioned anyone's reasons for wanting to keep their identity a secret. None of the doctors seemed to mind, either, thinking that it was just some kind of game that they played. Either way, everyone in his group referred to each other by their number.

Five glanced around, wondering where their 'carer' was at the moment. Probably off getting the new guy. Apparently there was supposed to be someone new joining the group that day. Or was it _two_ new patients? He couldn't remember, not that it really mattered. They would find out soon enough. Leaning back in his chair, he looked up at the ceiling of the room and let out a sigh. Why was it taking so long? He wanted to get the therapy session over with so that he could get on with his day.

It wasn't long before two young men entered the room, followed by their doctor. "Alright, everyone," the doctor said, taking a seat in the small circle, "we have two new patients with us. Their names are-"

"NINEANDTEN!" a voice screamed, interrupting the doctor. There was a pause and then the man shrank back slightly, fiddling with his fingers and he mumbled to himself, "Nineandten. Justusnineandten. Can'tgetoutofthenightmarecastle... Nineandtenforeverandever..."

The doctor waited until he was sure that he wouldn't be interrupted again and continued, "As I was saying these are- oh right. Well, they don't really have names. At least, they can't concentrate long enough to tell anyone. I do believe that he," the doctor motioned toward the apparently younger man with the green number ten on his chest, "truly doesn't remember his name. The hospital has apparently been calling them John Doe," the apparently slightly older man looked up and then went back to staring at his feet, "and Richard Roe."

There was a pause as the doctor took in a deep breath. He motioned towards the chairs, indicating that the two newest members should have a seat. 'John Doe' apparently got the idea and quickly seated himself. He glanced around the circle, still not saying anything, and his eyes settled on Five. The two patients watched each other for a moment before John quickly looked away and turned his attention to 'Richard'.

The silence was short lived as Richard jumped forward suddenly and screamed, "STOP, DROP, 'N ROLL! IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD! Thesquirrelrevolutionhasbegun! Runforyourlives!" before he dropped to the floor, hitting his face against the ground with a sharp _crack_, and wrapped his hands over his head as though he were preparing himself for a bomb that was about to drop onto him.

At Richard's sudden outburst, everyone in the room except John had jumped and began looking around for the source of the outburst. Upon finding the younger man cowering on the floor, everyone confirmed their suspicions that their wonderful schedule was about to be completely interrupted and that the day was going to be long. _Very_ long.

**Spazztasitc Time/Scene Change!**

It was about five the next morning when Nine, as dubbed by the rest of the group, found himself staring at his reflection in a mirror. He had shaggy, dark brown hair that had obviously not been cut or brushed in a very long time, giving him a bit of a wild appearance. His light brown eyes were glazed and he had dark bags under his eyes, giving him a perpetually exhausted appearance. His clothes consisted of a baggy, white shirt tucked into equally baggy, off-white pants. Sewn onto his shirt, across the right half of his chest, was a gray patch with the number 9 painted on it. He knew that an even larger 9 had been painted onto his back so that he could be easily identified, a fact that only frightened him more.

Nine sighed and turned the faucet on, running the water as cold as possible. Once satisfied with the temperature, he filled his cupped hands with water and splashed it onto his face. He really needed to consider sleeping. If he wasn't careful, he'd pass out again and this time he might not be so lucky as to simply get away with a few bruises. But the shadows... He jumped and twisted himself around suddenly, his eyes darting around the room as though looking for something. _'The shadows hold secrets. Secrets and monsters. Only he believes me. He's seen them, too.'_

Seeing nothing, Nine shuddered and edge out of the bathroom. Still glancing nervously around the empty hallway, he slowly made his way to his room. He knew that his room wasn't safe, but it was certainly safer than being out in the open where _**they**_ could get him. There was a small click as he shut his door behind him and then wandered over to his bed. Crawling onto the mattress, he edged over to the corner and drew his knees up to his chest while wrapping his arms around his legs. Now nothing could get him.

Nine wasn't how much time had gone by, he didn't have a clock or anything with with to tell time, when a knock on his door startled him out of his thoughts. He had a guess at who it was, but, just to make sure, he unwrapped himself, approached the door, and knocked several times on his side of the door.

There were three short knocks, followed by one long knock and then two more short ones. Nine was positive that he knew exactly who was standing on the other side of the door. He gave two short knocks and stepped back as the door opened slowly, just wide enough for his friend, Ten, to slip into the room. For a moment, neither said anything, instead glancing warily around the room as though expecting someone to jump out of the shadows.

As soon as he was positive that they were alone, Ten grabbed Nine and dragged the man to the bed. "See nothing, here nothing, say nothing," Ten whispered, placing his hands over his eyes, ears, and mouth in that order. Nine gave a quick nod. He already followed the rule diligently, both of them did in their own ways. However, they followed the final rule far more strictly than any other. Nine chose silence as his way of following the rule. Ten simply babbled without actually saying anything worthwhile.

"Thesquirrelsareevil," Ten whispered suddenly, rubbing his hands together and casting another wary glance around the room. Nine curled into the tight ball once more and gave a quick shrug. The squirrels could revolt all they wanted, they were no threat to him. He sighed softly and looked Ten over carefully. In the dark, his friend seemed so... different.

Ten was very tall, standing slightly taller than Nine, and unhealthily skinny, making him look like he hadn't eaten in days. He, too, had shaggy hair that looked as though it hadn't been brushed in forever. Unlike Nine, however, his hair was a pale blond that looked as though it had been bleached repeatedly. His shaggy hair also gave him a very wild, rather dangerous, appearance. Light blue eyes constantly darted around the room, taking in every detail, and were quite bright. He was twitchy like a squirrel and had a slightly exhausted look, though he didn't look nearly as tired as Nine. His outfit was the same as Nine's, only the number painted on his back was 10 and the small patch was over the left half of his chest.

"_**They**_'re coming," Ten whispered. Nine nodded absentmindedly until Ten began shaking him violently. "_**They**_ are coming! Here! Notsafeanymore!" Ten released Nine and turned around on the bed. He twitched slightly and then scampered over to the door and back again. "Comingcomingcoming. Gottagetoutbefore_**they**_gethereisnotsafeanymore."

Nine shook his head and snapped, "Go back to bed." Ten froze, staring at him incredulously. "Go back to bed. It's just nighttime jitters. _**They**_ can't get us here. Not yet, anyways."

"Always when you least expect it. Usually at night. Mostly at night. You know, they got Sarah last month," Ten mumbled under his breath. One final glanced was cast around the room before he slipped out of the room.

Nine listened carefully and then settled back against the wall. Before, he had been slightly relaxed. Now, however, he was stiff and prepared to run away at any moment. It scared him, Ten's uncanny ability to tell when someone was about to have an attack or 'episode' as the doctors liked to call it. But, they didn't know anyone here. Usually, it was only other people that they knew, people that understood what they meant when they spoke of _**them**_. But no, they didn't know any others like them. So why was Ten so nervous?

Nine's eyes darted around the room and he hugged his legs tighter. Nervous tension caused his heart to beat faster and he felt like running. He couldn't stay still anymore. He _had_ to move, _had_ to escape. He _had_ to get _out_. _'Maybe __**they**__ really are coming,'_ he mused. _'It's possible. __**They**__'re hunting you. You and- What was that?'_ The sound of voices filtered through his door and he lifted his head slightly. He could hear the voices of a small group of people.

Standing up, Nine crossed over to the door of his room and yanked it open. The door slammed against his wall, catching the attention of everyone in the hall and silencing the voices, but he didn't care. He took one step out into the hallway before the door across from him opened and an off-white blur slammed into him, knocking him back into his room.

"_**They**_came_**they**_came_**they**_came! I _told_ you! ItoldyouItouldyouItoldyou!" Ten babbled from on top of Nine. "I said, I said, I _said_! , theywillalwaysfindyou."

Nine growled something under his breath and tried to sit up, but was violently pushed back onto the floor by Ten. "Ten, you have three seconds to get off me," Nine snapped, shoving Ten roughly. Ten almost fell off, but he quickly regained his balance and resumed straddling Nine's stomach.

"But, _** they**_ came. I heard _**them**_, in the shadows..." Ten stopped talking and looked up at the other members of his group. There was a moment of silence before he screamed, "See nothing, hear nothing, say nothing!" and scampered down the hall, disappearing when he pushed open the door leading to the stairs.

Five approached Nine and helped the man off the floor. "Hey, uh, you okay?" he asked worriedly. "You look terrible."

Nine shook himself quickly as though trying to shake off water or something and began earnestly brushing himself off. Five watched him curiously and opened his mouth to say something when Nine grabbed his hand and placed it against the far right side of his chest. "Is it still there?!" he hissed, worried eyes focused intently on Five.

Five jumped when his hand had been grabbed and tried to pull away. "Is what there?" he asked.

"Beat, thud, inner drum, I don't know!" Nine cried, releasing Five's hand. He grabbed at his hair and shook his head violently as he continued to wail, "I don't know, I _just don't_ know! It's important and always makes a noise, but it's really, really,_ really_ bad if it goes silent." He grabbed Five's shoulders suddenly and slammed the other man against the wall. "_**They**_ came. Last night. Someone went cold. Coldcoldcold... You can wake up and you're silent, but you still move. Dead but alive. I don't know." He let go of Five and stumbled back several steps. "Gotta find Ed.." he mumbled so that only Five could hear before he started to wander off, almost as though in a daze.

Nine didn't get far, however, when everyone else apparently got past the reboot stage with their brains and started moving again. Seven ran past everyone and grabbed Nine, intending to pull him back before anything happened. Her plan backfired, though, because the sudden contact between her and Nine triggered something in his mind.

As soon as Seven touched him, Nine dropped to a crouch and swung a leg around, knocking Seven to the ground. He didn't wait to see who had touched him or who he had knocked down. Instead, he jumped up and began running at full speed, screaming at the top of his lungs. "TEEEEEENNNN!" he screamed, pushing the door to the stairs open and almost falling over the railing. He did knock the wind out of his lungs when he rain into the railing and he stumbled a few steps away from the edge. "_**They**_'re here," he gasped. He knew that all too familiar feeling. The feeling that your heart had stopped and the temperature around you had dropped. The doctors told him that it was fear, but he knew the truth. He and Ten both knew the truth.

Nine's thoughts were cut short when the door to the stairs swung open and the doctor that had introduced him to the rest of the group, followed closely by Seven and Five, burst through. They were saying something, but their voices merged together so that he couldn't understand them. He glanced around nervously before fixing his frightened gaze on them. Stepping back, he found himself falling backwards with nothing under his feet. The next thing the trio said, he understood perfectly, just before there was a sharp _crack_ and everything went dark.

"NINE!"

***

_Everything was dark. So dark. Or course it was dark, he still had his eyes closed. With a soft groan, he opened his eyes slightly and cast a wary glance at the scenery. Yes, he was back __**here**__. The __**Nightmare Castle**__ as Ed called it. Which reminded him, where was the little bugger? He twisted himself over so that, from the waist up, he was laying on his stomach while the rest was as if he were laying on his back. Propping himself up on his elbows, he looked around at everything more carefully then before._

_ No, this wasn't the __**Nightmare Castle**__. It couldn't be. The building in the distance was different. Without looking closely, it did look like a castle. But no, the three tall cylinders were set up wrong and were the wrong heights and the building in the distance was most definitely __**not**__ a castle. But he had definitely seen it before. But where?_

_ He squinted, concentrating on the building in the distance. He knew that he had seen it somewhere and it irritated him that he couldn't remember. Suddenly, it occurred to him. 'Those pictures that Ed's always drawing! Those __**must**__ be that. He's always talking about this place. Says he finds himself here whenever he sleeps or whenever __**they**__ come.'_

_ He rolled over so that he was completely on his stomach and took a closer look at his surroundings. It looked as though all life had vanished. He could imagine that everything had once been pretty and full of flowers. But now... Now it was just a vast wasteland of trash and debris. It was so strange. He had heard Ed tell him stories of this place. The earliest stories had been wonderful; so full of life and happiness, overflowing joy, and the constant development of technology. It was like the real world except without the horrible terrors. It was Ed's 'safe place', the reason he was called a schizophrenic in the first place. He thought that the idea of a 'safe place' had been wonderful, at first. The ability to lose one's self inside a fantasy world where one couldn't get hurt, it was fabulous! He remembered when he used to envy Ed for the ability to not be able to tell the real world from the fantasy world._

_ That was then, this was now. He remembered all those stories that Ed told him, how they started out peaceful but then started growing darker. Suddenly, everything had gone wrong. Ed already completely lived in the fantasy world, spending hardly any time in the real world anymore. So what was one supposed to do when they could no longer escape from their fantasy and their fantasy turned into a living nightmare? Suddenly, he felt really bad for Ed. How could someone stand to live in such a place._

_ He rolled onto his back and sat up sharply, twisting his head in all direction. 'Something is watching me.' He couldn't tell why he knew it, he just knew that someone was watching him. He continued to look around for a few minutes and then shrugged. Perhaps it was the strange feeling that this place was almost familiar that was making him so much more jumpy than normal. He felt as though he had been here before, or at least had seen something from this... place. A sudden thought occurred to him. 'What if the shadow monsters came from here? The monsters in the shadows... It makes so much sense. The monsters came fro-'_

_**Clank!**_

_ 'What was that?' He scrambled to his feet and looked around, his awe and curiosity was quickly replaced by fear and paranoia. __**Clank!**__ He twisted around in a tight circle several times but still couldn't locate the source of the noise. The noise was loud so whatever was causing it had to be nearby. __**Clank!**__ With a frightened hiss, he lowered himself and bent his knees, ready to take off in an __instant. His heart was beating rapidly, thudding loudly against his chest as though trying to escape through his ribcage. __**Clank!**__ It was behind him. Twisting himself around, he found himself looking up at a __**huge**__ robot. Actually, 'huge' didn't even begin to describe the size of the thing._

_ The robot made him easily look like a mouse or a cockroach. The thing was massive and round with a large, glowing red eye. Coming out from all over the ball were many arms, all of which were pointed directly at him. Their claw-like fingers opened and closed several times before they all opened completely and pulled back slightly._

_ Staring up at the robot, he felt almost all the muscles in his body stiffen. His bladder and facial muscles, however, went slack and his mouth dropped open. For at least one full second, he knew that his heart had stopped completely. His brain jammed, his muscles tightened to the point where he couldn't move, and all he could do was stare up at the thing and whimper. From before him, there came another loud __**Clank!**__ and he finally knew what was creating the strange noise. It wasn't the gigantic robot since it was connected to the ceiling. For some unknown reason, he had somehow found himself (he assumed) __**inside**__ the building. The source of the clanking was a dog-like robot made from the skeleton of some unidentifiable creature. The dog-thing growled at him and his brain finally started working again._

_ He turned around and ran._

_ "I'm gonna die!" he screamed, not to anyone in particular but almost as though reassuring himself that he wasn't dead... yet. "I'm gonna die! I'mgonnadieI'mgonnadieI'mgonnadie!" After that, he simply screamed at the top of his lungs. 'I don't want to die! What would Ed do? He's been here before, he should know how to deal with these... things. He's always talking about this place. WhatdoIdo? I'm going to die!'_

_ He could hear the creature running after him. Actually, by the sounds he heard, it appeared to be leaping towards him. He didn't take his eyes off of the area before him, however, too afraid of tripping over something. As long as he kept running, there was a chance that he would survive. He could and he would-_

_ The light, dull as it was, caught him by surprise. He hesitated for a second and then took off running once more when he heard the mechanical beast land directly behind him. 'Have to get out of here!' He didn't know where he was running. 'Have to get away!' He didn't have any idea where he was. Nor did he really care, actually. He just wanted to get away. Very, very far away. Anywhere was better than where he was just then._

_ He was running across several wooden planks when the wood beneath him gave out suddenly. With a sharp scream of surprise followed by a pained yelp, he soon found himself stuck in a hole in the wooden planks. He tried to wriggle out but couldn't. He managed to twist the upper half of his body just enough to see the mechanical beast standing above him._

_ Someone was screaming. He couldn't tell who and, at the moment, he didn't care. All he knew was that he was going to die. Right there. He was completely alone, no one to help him, and a huge, mechanical monster was out to kill him. He had the vague feeling that someone was screaming, almost like background noise. Too faint to properly hear and yet he somehow knew, someone was screaming. The only thing he understood, however, was the fact that the beast was lunging at him. Powerful jaws closed around him and-_

"NOOOO!" Nine tried to throw himself forward but found himself restrained by many hands and bodies. There also appeared to be some kind of binding or straps that were helping to keep him restrained, but the group of people were still there, trying to hold him down.

"Let me go!" Nine screamed, struggling to break free. "I have to find... have to find... Where's Ed?! He was... he was... Get off me! No!" His words died away to panicked screaming. None of the doctors or nurses could calm him down so a nurse was sent away to get a sedative.

She came back holding a needle filled with said sedative when a figure burst into the room and screamed, "DONT DO IT! Eventhoughheinvadedmy'safeplace'hedoesn'tdeservetodie!" The doctors weren't given a chance to recover from Ten's sudden intrusion when he ran over to the bed which held the still screaming Nine, and threw off several of the doctors. Climbing onto the bed, he once again straddled Nine's stomach while pulling a stuffed toy out of the collar of his shirt. "JOKER!" he screamed, stuffing the toy into Nine's face.

Nine stopped screaming and crossed his eyes in an effort to look at the toy. Apparently it had some meaning to Ten, but he wasn't exactly sure what. Ten tilted his head slightly at the sudden silence and then pretended to make the toy dance across Nine's chest, murmuring in an almost soothing tone, "This is Joker, see? _**They**_ can't hurt Joker. Can't even get near Joker. Joker is a 'safe thing'. He is _my_ 'safe place'. _**They**_ can't get you as long as you have a 'safe thing'." He paused and then clutched the toy to his chest and pulled his knees up to his chin. "You can't have him!" he hissed, glaring sharply at Nine.

Nine... Nine wasn't exactly sure how to react. He was still frightened from the nightmare, if he could even call it that, but he was confused by Ten's action's. Part of him wanted to continue screaming at the top of his lungs. He wasn't sure why but doing so made him feel safer, like the noise would chase away whatever was hunting him. The other half of him wanted to hold onto Ten. Again, he didn't completely understand why, but he couldn't see Ten as anything other than a rather helpless, quite lost child. But he certainly felt much better now that Ten was with him.

"See nothing, hear nothing, say nothing," Ten whispered, still sitting on top of Nine's stomach, his knees drawn up to his chin, his arms behind his legs while clutching the toy to his chest, and his feet resting gently against Nine's now rapidly rising and falling chest.

Nine inhaled quickly and gasped, "Ge- get off me... I can't... breath..."

**End Notes:** Yeah, some of you are probably wondering what the heck Ten is saying most of the time. He tends to babble randomly about stuff and most of what he says doesn't make any sense. Not to mention, he speaks so fast that he tends to slur all his words together. Anywho, here's what he's saying, along with a translation, in the order of when they appeared in the story (in case you want to go back and see how they were used).

"NINEANDTEN!" : (Well, that's a little obvious, now isn't it?) Nine and Ten!

"Nineandten. Justusnineandten. Can'tgetoutofthenightmarecastle... Nineandtenforeverandever..." : Nine and Ten. Just us Nine and Ten. Can't get out of the Nightmare Castle... Nine and Ten forever and ever...

"Thesquirrelrevolutionhasbegun! Runforyourlives!" : The squirrel revolution has begun! Run for your lives!

"Thesquirrelsareevil" : The squirrels are evil

"Notsafeanymore!" : Not safe anymore!

"_**They**_came_**they**_came_**they**_came! I _told_ you! ItoldyouItouldyouItoldyou!" : They came, they came, they came! I told you! I told you, I told you, I told you!

"Eventhougheinvadedmy'safeplace'hedoesn'tdeservetodie!" : Even though he invaded my 'safe place', he doesn't deserve to die!

Yeah... Sometimes, even I have to wonder exactly what goes on inside Ten's head. I'm a bit scared to find out, though... And yes, he really does believe that the squirrels are evil. So, Review, please?


	2. Hidden Identity

**Author Notes:** Oh, hi there! *waves* Still with me? Good. Can you believe it?! This story has 51 hits! _51 hits!_ My other story has 53 and it's been up for over a year! This one's been up for about a month (or less)! Wow! :D I assuming that this is a good kind of popular and that people are actually reading the whole thing. Even so, _so many hits!_ I'm so happy! Now, if I could get a review or two? Or three? Seriously. Tell me how I'm doing, if I can/should improve anywhere, stuff like that. Even to send me some random quote from the story or just to tell me that you love it, LET ME KNOW! It tells me that I'm doing a good job and that I should keep on writing.

Also, for anyone who cares, I'm going to see if I can update this at least once a month. I say at least once a month because I have some other projects that I'm working on. For one thing, I'm going to see if I can draw the characters here (that's for fun and, if I do, I will post a link in my profile). Also, I'm going to try and start my own manga (whoopie-joy!) so I'm looking forward to that. Now, if only I could get the characters to come out looking nice. Anywho, on with the story!

**Disclaimer:** I only own the plot and the characters George and Ten. And Joker. The idea was inspired by Tora Marikama's fanfic: _Short by Nine Marbels_. The characters from the movie _9_ belong to Shane Acker.

**Paint by Number**

Chapter 2

_Hidden Identity_

Nine leaned back against the arm of a chair which he was busy trying to disappear into. It was in a corner of the lobby where he desperately hoped he wouldn't be noticed. His knees were drawn up to his face, his arms wrapped tightly around his legs, and his head was lowered so that his eyes peaked out just below his knees. His hair had clearly not been brushed since he had woken up from the nightmare nearly a week before. The bags under his eyes were smaller. It made sense, though. Apparently he had been unconscious for three days after falling down the stairs (at least, that's what everyone told him).

_'Why is he so mad?'_ Nine let out a small whimper and curled further into his protective ball, still doing his best to disappear into the fabric of the couch. Or maybe he'd get lucky and get bitten by a radioactive iguana. Those things could change the color of their skin, right? Or was that some other kind of lizard-thing? He wasn't sure anymore, nor did he care. For a moment, his mind jumped from one topic to another before it returned to the subject of Ten's anger.

Nine just didn't understand. Right after he woke up, Ten had been his best friend and hardly left his side. Three days later, he's said to be on (mostly) good health and allowed back to his room. The very next day, Ten's out searching for Nine's blood. He just couldn't wrap his brain around it. What had he done to deserve Ten's wrath. For the next few days, he had been busy finding new hiding places in hopes that everything would just go away after a while and he and Ten would be good friends again.

_'Why is he- Ooh, look! A penny!'_ Nine blinked, staring at the sparkling object. Okay, that was random. But it really was pretty. He started to uncurl so as to retrieve the object when he spotted a nearby shadow and immediately curled back into a tight ball, this time wrapping his arms over the top of his head in fear. _'The shadows hold evil!'_

"Hey there! I've heard of you. You're than 'John Doe' patient that won't tell anyone his name," a friendly voice said. Nine looked up to see a pretty nurse standing next to him, bent down so that he face was level with his. "Come on, everyone knows that you don't have amnesia. Why not tell me your name?"

_'She's just like all the rest. Take your name, your identity, everything. Suck out your soul and eat your brains.'_ Nine glared at her, shrinking back slightly. He was startled to find that he couldn't shrink back any more and wished desperately for the chair to eat him. This place was even more dangerous than the previous mental facility!

"Come on now," the nurse said soothingly, as though speaking to a little child. She seated herself on the floor and continued to watch him as she asked, "Why won't you tell anyone your name? You can tell me."

Nine watched her for a moment more before a thought popped into his head. Uncurling sharply, he snapped out and arm and pointed at a random point across from him as he screamed, "ZOMBIES!"

The nurse, confused as to why he had pointed someone and screamed, turned to look where he had pointed. When she turned back to the chair, she found it deserted and saw that Nine had somehow made his way halfway across the room in that instant. "Wow, never knew anyone could be so fast," she murmured. See that she wasn't getting anywhere, she shook her head softly and started to leave. Besides, she had other things that needed to be done. She could try and get him to tell his name later.

Nine, meantime, glanced behind him to make sure he wasn't being followed and promptly ran into the wall. He stumbled back several steps, clutching his nose tightly. It wasn't bleeding, at least, but it certainly hurt from running into the wall. He rubbed the side of his face that had hit the wall and hissed sharply from the pain. Still rubbing his right cheek, he looked up just in time to see Ten spot him. He looked around nervously, searching for an escape route, but it was too late. There was no escape this time.

***

"They're really weird," Seven stated suddenly, sitting up in her chair. It was noon, meaning almost everyone was in the cafeteria. She was sitting next to Three and Four, young teens who were busy playing poke-and-shove over a fork. Across from her was Five who was sitting next to Two. Two sat across from One who was sitting next to Eight. Eight was busy glaring at anyone that dared to look at the small group while One simply ignored everyone else in the room.

Five looked up from his plate and asked, "Who's really weird?"

"Those two basket cases, Nine and Ten." Seven stretched his arms up before propping her head up with her left arm while tapping the table with her free hand. "I mean, have you even been watching them? They are the definition of crazy!"

"Now, now, Seven. We're all crazy here," Two replied calmly, watching her out of the corner of his eyes.

Six happened to placed his tray in the empty spot between Seven and Two at that moment and jumped right into the conversation. "If you're going to call anyone a basket case, then you should really look at yourself," he said, seating himself in the empty chair.

Seven jumped up, knocking her chair to the floor, and snapped, "So you think _I'm_ a basket case, huh? Well, we haven't even gotten started on you!"

She looked as though she were about to jump on Six when Five stammered, "W-wait! We really shouldn't fight here! I really don't want to get in trouble."

"And why shouldn't I fight?"

"Because that's not really you?" Five squeaked, shrinking back from Seven's glare.

Seven glared around the table before picking up her chair and seating herself once more. She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. Several deep breaths and plenty of annoying pokes from Three later, she mumbled, "Sorry."

Two chuckled and said, "It's not entirely your fault, Seven. I'm sure having multiple personalities isn't all that fun."

"Oh, it's plenty fun," Seven replied slowly, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply. "It's only after you get locked in isolation that things really get bad."

"It's always in isolation that things truly get interesting," Two agreed. "Now tell me, what brought up this subject of Nine and Ten?"

Seven fidgeted in her seat and bit her lip. She didn't say anything even when Three poked her repeatedly. It wasn't until she was jabbed with a spork before she said anything, and then it was just to shout at the twins for jabbing her. Of course, the twins couldn't stop giggling until she threatened to hunt them down for the rest of the day and do something horrible to them before they fell silent, occasionally clicking their tongues at each other and flashing hand signs.

It wasn't until everyone had finished eating that Seven decided to return to her previous subject of Nine and Ten. This time, however, she appeared to be much more contemplative rather than just saying whatever was on the top of her mind. "Ten and Nine are... different," she explained, leaning back in her chair and folding her hands behind her head. "I mean, we've seen tons of schizophrenics and Six is a schizophrenic-"

"Same here," Two pointed out.

"Hearing voices is schizophrenia?"

"Yes. Now, you were saying?"

"Oh, right. So, uh... I mean, we've seen lots of schizophrenics but none of them really acted like... them." Her voice trailed away as she struggled to remember the point that she had been trying to make in the first place. "I mean, they really stand out and this is in a place where _everyone_ stands out! And they're late. What are they, on a diet or something?" Having failed to make her point and not even remembering what point she had been trying to make in the first place, Seven fell silent as she racked her brain for the reason she had started talking in the first place.

It was at the exact moment that Nine and Ten seemingly materialized right next to Seven. Ten pushed Seven's chair over and ignored the snarl that she gave him as he placed a chair between Seven and Three. The twins, along with the other members of the table, watched what was happening, everyone coming up with their own conclusion as to what was going on. Nine, however, was doing his best to try and sneak away, a hand pressed against the right side of his face.

"Nine," Ten hissed, his hands still on the back of the chair, "where do you think you're going?" Nine froze mid-step and inhaled sharply. There really was no escape when Ten was angry. Nine let out a startled squeak as he was jerked back and forced into the chair. He tried to curl up into a protective ball and had started to draw his legs up when Ten pushed his knees down. So, instead, he wrapped his arms around his chest and let out a frightened whimper.

Five took in the scene before him before he asked, "Um, Ten? What's going on?"

Ten looked up at Five and tilted his head slightly in confusion. "What?"

"I asked, 'what's going on'."

Ten narrowed his eyes and snarled, "Nine invaded. Invadedmyterritories! STAY OUT!" His voice quickly changed to a sharp screech which drew the attention of everyone in the room. Three and Four shrank back, each one trying to hide behind the other while offering the other as a sacrifice. Seven leaned forward and unwrapped her hands from her head, her mouth open in surprise. Five jumped at the sudden ferocity in the seemingly harmless man's voice and a look of fear crossed over Two's face before he assumed a neutral expression. Eight jumped and growled sharply at Ten, One focused his entire attention on the man, and Six scampered behind Two, watching from what he considered to be a safe distance.

Ten either didn't notice the sudden attention or didn't care. Instead, he whapped Nine gently on top of the head before storming off. He didn't wish to be around the source of his anger and it was obvious that Nine didn't want to be around him. He didn't care at the moment, though. He was irked that Nine had crossed into his 'safe place'. Didn't he know the dangers of doing such a thing? Grumbling stuff under his breath, Ten left the room, leaving Nine alone with the full attention of everyone in the room focused entirely on him.

Without Ten to stop him, Nine slid down in his chair and drew his knees up to his chin. He finally let go of his cheek and Eight, One, Three, and Four saw the red, hand-shaped mark across the right half of his face where Ten had obviously slapped him. His eyes darted nervously around the room, obviously not happy about the amount of attention that he was getting. With a final whine, he wrapped his arms over his head and tucked his head between his legs so that no one could see his face and he couldn't see anyone else.

Three and Four clicked their tongues at each other and made several signs with their hands. With a final nod, they positioned themselves on either side of Nine. Four held up three fingers and them began to pull them down as though counting down for something. Nine heard the movements and lifted his head slightly. There was a startled squeak as the twins grabbed Nine in a tight squeeze. Nine uncured so fast that his knees hit the table, pushing him over backward.

Six jumped out of his chair wand watched as the twins tackled the fallen man. He snickered and quickly ran a hand through his curly, blond hair before suggesting, "How about we go outside?" As soon as he finished speaking, Nine let out a startled shriek as Three began tickling his stomach.

"Come on, you three," Two stated, pushing himself out of his chair. "Go play outside." He pointed at the door and the twins watched each other before scrambling back to their feet. They each grabbed one of Nine's arms and pulled the man to his feet. They motioned to the door and then began to drag Nine out of the room. Seven let out an excited squeal and jumped out of her chair. She bounced in place several times before skipping out of the room.

Nine watcher her leave, wondering how she had changed from cool and calculating to little-girl-on-sugar-and-way-too-much-caffeine. He wasn't given to the time to wonder, however, as Three and Four gave a sharp tug and continued to drag him outside. He glanced at each of the twins and wondered exactly what they were planning to do. A quick glance behind him showed Five and Two following at their own pace while Eight was tried to persuade One to come along.

It wasn't long before the odd group was outside, each doing their own thing. Seven was running around the yard, squealing and laughing like a little girl. Five and Two were sitting beneath a large oak, Two simply watching everyone with a smile while Five looked like he wasn't sure whether he wanted to join in or stay beneath the tree. Eight was watching the clouds, what few there were, while One sat next to him, grumbling about how he didn't want to be outside in the first place. Six was using his fingers to draw in a patch of dirt, not really paying attention to what anyone else was doing.

Nine was doing his best to run away from Three and Four, both of whom were trying to tackle him to the ground. "Stop chasing me!" Nine snapped, zig-zagging between what few people were also outside in an attempt to lose the twins. Both twins glanced at each other before shaking their heads at him. "I said stop it! I know..." Nine turned sharply and made his way to the oak tree. Five jumped up and scrambled to the other side of Two, using the older man as a shield.

"Coming through!" Nine called, jumping up and grabbing one of the branches of the tree. In seconds, he was safely within the branches of the tree, holding onto his limb much the way a cat would. He laughed as the twins shook their fists at him. Nothing in the world would make him climb down from where he was.

"Nine, what are you doing up there?" Five asked, brushing his hair out of his face.

Nine stuck his tongue out at the twins before replying, "It's way safer up here. No way am I going down the-"

"Nine! Someone here to see you!" a voice called from the doorway to the building.

Nine hesitated and then jumped out of the tree. With a frown, he asked Five, "Who would want to see me?"

Five shrugged. "We don't really have anything to do today so there's more visiting hours. Want me to go with you?"

Nine shook his head quickly as he started towards the building. "I'll be fine. It's probably nothing big," he stated.

"Where's Nine going?" Six asked, rubbing his fingers against his shirt to try and get the dirt off. Five shrugged before seating himself next to Two. Six hesitated, tapping his fingers together nervously before he finally seated himself next to Five.

"Hey, guys! What's up?" Seven seated herself and laughed as the twins scrambled onto her lap. "You guys 're so cute!" she squealed, grabbing the twins in a tight squeeze. She then proceeded to run her hands through their hair while they made a noise similar to a purr. "It's amazing how you both have the exact same shade of hair. I mean, sure tons of people have black hair, but it's never the exact same shade of black, you know?"

***

"So, who wants me?" Nine asked the nurse.

"A young man," the nurse replied. "Apparently he was your previous doctor from that other institution. His name is George, I think."

"Geo?"

The nurse shrugged as she opened a door to an empty room and waited for Nine to enter. "He said that he wanted to talk to you alone. Apparently he was given permission." She shrugged once more and shut the door before leaving.

Nine glanced around the empty room and frowned. There was a desk in the middle of the room with a chair on either side of it. One chair was occupied by a young man in a white overcoat. The man motioned to the empty chair and waited until Nine was seated. Leaning back, the man pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, apparently out of habit since they were perfectly fine, and smiled.

Nine smiled lightly and greeted, "Hello, Geo."

"Glad to see that you remember, Ai-" George started when Nine slammed both hands against the table. George jumped and stared at Nine. After several moments of silence, he asked, "What was that for?"

Nine glared at George as he growled, "Do _not_ say it."

"Right. Sorry." George leaned back and inhaled deeply as he nervously ran a hand through his hair. "Look, you've got a name. You really should use it," he stated. "We can't go around calling you 'John Doe' for the rest of your life. I know it isn't your real name. _You_ know it isn't your real name." He paused, returning Nine glare with an equally fierce glare of his own. "You've got a name, _use it!_"

"No." Nine glared at George, daring the man to say something. George simply leaned back in his chair and motioned for Nine to sit. Still frowning, Nine seated himself on the chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

There was a long, awkward silence which seemed to stretch on for eternity. Neither man wanted to break the silence and each was daring the other do say something. Finally, George pushed his glasses up and locked his eyes on Nine's. Right. We're getting nowhere at this point and I've got stuff that I need to discuss with you," he said slowly, as though carefully choosing each word. He took a deep breath before he continued, "But first, how do you feel, Aid-"

"_Don't call me that!_" Nine was on his feet once more, hands placed firmly on the table. His breathing was rapid as he glared at George again. With a growl of frustration, George pushed himself out of his chair, slammed his hands against the table, and brought his face forward until they were only a few inches apart. Nine's eyes widened and a shudder ran down his spine. He had _not_ meant to make his old doctor so upset, but it was too late to do anything about it, now.

"You. Have. A. Name," George spat. "You _will_ use it, whether you _like _it or _not!_ Do I make myself clear?"

Nine swallowed and averted his gaze. His mind raced, to use it and risk giving it up or to keep it protected like he had always done. Turning back to George, he frowned once more and snapped, "No!"

"Why won't you use it? You perfectly fine with it when you first came in. What made you stop?" The doctor asked, pulling away from the patient.

"My name is my identity," Nine replied. "Without it, I am nothing."

George watched him and then apparently gave up. "Fine, what do you want to be called?"

"Nine."

"What?"

"Nine."

There was another awkward silence which, just like the last, seemed to stretched on for eternity. Finally, George asked, "You want to be called... a number?" Nine nodded and the man let out a frustrated sigh. "You, of all people, are calling yourself a _number_? What in the world?" He laughed softly as he sat back down. Nine, however, did not return to his seat but began pacing nervously before the desk.

"Where's Ten?" Nine asked suddenly, not stopping his pacing.

"Who?"

"Ten. Er... Ed."

"Ah, Ed." George stared at the ceiling and answered, "Not sure. He should be here soon, though. Wouldn't be surprised if he somehow managed to get into the vents again."

Nine paused, lifting an eyebrow as he watched George. He soon returned to his pacing. "You said you wanted to talk?"

"Yeah..." More silence. "Nine, do you remember why you're here?"

Nine didn't even slow down as he replied, "Because our old 'home' wasn't safe."

George laughed and shook his head quickly. "Not quite. Tell me, why are you here, in a psychiatric ward? "

Nine stopped his pacing and turned to stare at the doctor. "They said I was... unstable."

"Just unstable?" Nine frowned and resumed his pacing. George knew why he was kept in an institution, why bother asking him? "Nine, do you remember when Ten told you about _**them**_?"

Once again, Nine stopped pacing. This time, however, he wore a contemplative expression as he pondered the question. Yes, he knew about _**them**_. The beings that hid within the shadows. He had never gotten a good look at them until he had somehow gone to _that place_. What about _that place_ made Ten feel secure? He didn't know, hadn't known, and never would know. But what confused him was the fact that Ten had never described those creatures, the nightmarish, mechanical beasts. He had heard of the men in black, but not once had he heard of the mechanical monsters. And there had been no men in black.

"You're a schizophrenic, Nine..." Yes, that word that people had called him. A very big, long, and complicated word. He didn't know quite what it meant, nor did he care. "...an insomniac..." Ah, that one he knew. Insomniac; one who doesn't sleep. Or something like that. "...and you're the only person that Ed will properly talk to."

"Not Ed. Ten," Nine corrected. George nodded and opened his mouth to say more when the door opened and Ten bounced into the room.

"Oh look!" Ten exclaimed when he spotted George. "It's that funny, dancing penguin! Dance, penguin, dance!"

The nurse watched him for a moment before shaking her head. "Sorry. He didn't want to come at first. Kept saying you were going to eat him or something," she explained. "You've got ten minutes left, by the way. After that, you'll have to go back to the lobby."

"Right. See you later." The nurse nodded and left, shutting the door behind her.

George turned to Ten and opened his mouth to speak when Ten walked over to Nine and slapped said man. Nine jumped back and clutched as his cheek which now had a bright pink, hand shaped mark across it. "What was that for?" he demanded.

"You invaded! I will personally kill you myself if you ever invade again!" Ten snapped back, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Ten..." George started as he pushed himself out of his chair. Well, that wasn't supposed to happen. Ten ignored him and continued to rant at Nine. Nine suddenly went on the defensive and began shouting back at Ten and George tried to do his best to make sense of what the two were saying.

"You invaded my 'safe place'! If you ever-"

"What part of that is 'safe'? It's-"

"I will personally rip off your limps and-"

"There were no men! There were only these-"

"And I will _not_ talk to you ever-"

"And the red eye and the limbs, yes, but there were also-"

After several minutes of shouting, threatening, and enough screaming to give a rock a headache, George screamed, "Edward Lee James, Aiden Rowland, would the two of you _shut up_!" Immediately, both men shut up and listened. George glared at both of them before asking, "Now, are we _quite_ finished?" Both men nodded and Nine quickly sat down in the empty chair. Ten glared at Nine before sitting on the floor, apparently not at all aware that he was no sitting on a chair like everyone else.

"Right!" George clapped his hands together and let out a sigh as he forced a smile onto his face. "Now that we're finished arguing, I can continue with what I was going to tell you."

"Jokersays'nowwegottagohome'," Ten screamed before curling into a ball and hugging his knees.

George stared at him before continuing as though nothing had happened. "Nine, do you remember when _**they**_ first appeared in your life?" Ten stopped rocking on the floor and fixed his eyes on George, listening intently for the first time in years. For once, he appeared normal as he concentrated solely on the conversation happening before him. Nine stiffened in his chair and gave a slow nod.


	3. Start of a Romanticomedy

**Author Note: ***twitch* 0o *sweatdrop* D: What... The... Fuzz... I had this whole freaking thing written over a week ago and random parts kept getting eaten by the website. I upload it as a DocX and then as an actual chapter and it's perfect. I really don't get this... D: What the fuzz?

Anywho, I'm really surprised that I hadn't done this sooner. I mean, seriously. Sure, Ten gets timid when he's stuffed in a random place that he knows little to nothing about but even so, he was bound to start to show his true colors soon. Ten and Nine have been at this mental institution for a week shy of a month now. This should have happened much sooner. Anywho, it's happening now. Woohoo! Also, since Ten randomly changes his name, he will be referred to as 'Ten' during this entire story. Okay? Good.

Also, been drawing various characters and posting them on my deviantart account! You can see the links to the pictures from my user page. Go see them! :P

So tell me, who do you think should be paired up with who? Just kidding. I don't write romance very well. I write romanticomedy! I.E. Any romance would be slapstick humor, probably poorly written, and rather insane.

**Disclaimer:** If I have to tell you this again, I'm going to shoot something. I only own Ten and George. -.-

**Paint by Number**

Chapter 3

_Start of a Romanticomedy_!

Five was, at that moment, alone and bored. Shortly after Nine had left to go see whoever, everyone had disbanded to do their own thing. Seven was still outside dancing (he assumed she was dancing) in a way that greatly disturbed and frightened him so that he had left. Six was off painting again, having fun making strange shapes that vaguely resembled Egyptian hieroglyphs. Three and Four were in the library, probably rearranging things as needed and making sure everything was exactly where it belonged. One was also outside, still hanging around with eight. Two had apparently left to take a nap.

And Five had somehow wandered into the lobby. He paused and raised an eyebrow, wondering exactly how he had ended up where he was. _'Must have taken a turn without noticing,'_ he assumed, glancing around. The lobby wasn't incredibly busy, oddly enough. Sure, all the available seats were occupied, some by patients and some by visitors. However, there weren't any people standing around and chatting and no extra chairs had to be pulled out.

"AndthenI'mgoingtogotothemallandeaticecreamand- FIVE!" a voice cried. That was the only warning the man got before he was tackled to the ground by the spazzing Ten. "IwantchocolateicecreamandJokerwantsvanillasprinkles!"

"Er... What?" Five asked, struggling to turn around just enough to see Ten. He had barely managed to roll onto his back when Ten grabbed him in a tight hug and let out several excited squeaks. Five peered into light blue eyes as he smiled, still confused as to what was going on. "Okay then... Looks like you're in a good mood," he murmured, pushing himself into a sitting position. "Any particular reason?"

Ten laughed and exclaimed, "Thesquirrelsaren'tinvading! The world is saved! 'TillnextTuesday, thenyou'rescrewed."

"Oy, Ten!" George called, running up to the pair and being closely followed by Nine. "Don-don't do... tha-at," he gasped.

Five frowned slightly as Ten glanced at the doctor before making a point of ignoring the man. It wasn't his usual unawareness of the world around him, either. Ten was _purposely_ ignoring George, something Five had _never_ seen the schizophrenic do in the short time since he had first arrived. It confused and startled Five since he was sure that Ten was the type of person who wouldn't do that sort of thing.

Hesitantly, Five reached forward and ran a hand through Ten's unnaturally blond hair. "Is he mad at you or something?" he asked George.

Nine fidgeted while George laughed. "I started treading on thin ice without noticing," the doctor explained. "I touched a subject that I shouldn't have and the ice broke beneath me, so to speak." He ran a hand through his hair as he let out a sigh. "Should have been more careful, though. _That_ was a true disaster." He paused to look at Five who was still being glomped by Ten. A humorous grin danced across his lips as he teased, "Do my eyes deceive me or do I see some romanticomedy coming soon?"

Five raised an eyebrow before he looked down at Ten. It took a moment for the joke to sink in and then he let out a gasp. "I-I'm not gay!" he squeaked, trying to push Ten off him. Ten let out a startled grunt and tightened his hug on Five.

"Don't bother," George said, causing Five to stop trying to pry Ten off him. George inhaled deeply before continuing, "He doesn't know the first thing about love or romance. Wouldn't recognize love if it bit him in the butt. Honestly." Shaking his head slowly, he waved at the trio before departing. He stopped several feet away, turned around, and said, "And, Nine? Don't forget." Nine nodded slowly and watched as the doctor left.

"What was that about?" Five asked, returning to his effort of getting Ten off him so he could stand. "What aren't you supposed to forget?"

"Nothing," Nine snapped. Then, almost as though in a daze, he turned around and wandered away. He didn't respond to Five's pleads for help. If anything, he seemed to be blocking out all comments about or toward him.

Five sighed and gave a final shove, detaching Ten just long enough for him to stand when he was tackle-hugged again. "Oh, would you just get off?" he asked, poking the man. "Why are you so clingy all of a sudden? You never did this to Nine!"

Ten remained silent, which was a rare event for him. He appeared contemplative for a moment before he gave Five a quick squeeze and let go. Grabbing Five's wrist, he gave a sharp jerk and began walking, dragging the unfortunate Five behind him. Five followed unhappily after Ten. There really wasn't a whole lot that he could do in this situation other than follow. Besides, Ten was holding his wrist so tightly that it was starting to hurt.

"Ow! Stop- ow- holding so- ow- tightly!" Five whined, twisting his wrist in an attempt to lighten the grip.

Ten glanced back at him before barely loosening his grip. "Can't get too loose..." he mumbled, returning his attention to the hallway before him. For a second, Five was positive that a frightened expression had flashed across Ten's face, but it had been so fast that he wasn't sure. Ten glanced back at Five again as though checking to make sure the man was still there. "You'lldisappearifIletyougo. Disappearjustlikeveryoneelse..." His voice trailed away and he fell silent once more.

Five winced, partly from the pain in his wrist but mostly from the sudden hurt and fear in Ten's voice. Ten was happy. _Always._ Even when it was supposedly the end of the world or someone had played a cruel joke on him, he was almost stupidly happy. Happy to the point of being annoying, but happy all the same. But now...

_'It must have something to do with that man they were with,'_ he mused. It made sense. The man did say that he had touched on a forbidden subject. Something about a disaster, too. Either way, Ten was upset over something.

"Hey, Ten," Five started, but Ten interrupted him.

"Al."

"What?"

"Al."

"I don't-"

"My name."

Five hesitated. So Ten's real name was Al? "Why are you telling me this?" he asked hesitantly.

Ten stopped abruptly and turned to face Five, a deep scowl across his lips. "I am _not_ Ten. That is not my name. My name is Al. Today, tomorrow, yesterday, always. My name was, is, and will be Al," he snapped. Five shrank back, not at all sure of what had just happened.

"I-I thought you were Ten?"

"I was never Ten." Five said nothing. Instead, he watched Ten- now Al- glare at him. The patient formerly known as 'Ten' inhaled sharply before dragging Five to the art room. Six looked up as the two patients entered the room. He gave them a quick glance before returning to his drawings. Ten glanced around the room, apparently not seeing what he wanted. He didn't acknowledge anyone in the room.

Five, on the other hand, opened his eyes even wider, blinking rapidly. As soon as he had entered the art room, the image before him change. For a split second, he _didn't_ see the art room. Instead, he saw a small, wooden room that looked as though it was falling apart. What little paint was left on the walls was pealing. There were large, gaping holes in the floor where floorboards had broken and fallen. Some of the ends of the broken boards curled up slightly. There were small circles of light where sunlight was streaming through a few large holes in the roof.

The image had flashed before him for only an instant, far less than a second, yet he remembered clearly what he had seen. Five hesitated and then started to pull back from Ten. He found himself suddenly free of the other patient's grasp and stumbled back several steps.

"Te- Al, why-"

"There." Ten shrank back from Five, his eyes narrowed. He looked as though he were concentrating as hard as possible on Five.

Five tapped his fingers together nervously as he asked, "Wh-where?"

"There! You went to _that place_, didn't you?" Ten snapped. He didn't give Five a chance to reply before he ran out of the room, screaming, "Thefloodgateshaveopened! Theymustnotbeallowedin_thatplace_orelsetheywilldie!"

Five watched as Ten disappeared. For several minutes, he felt as though he were frozen in place until a comforting hand was placed on his shoulder. Turning, Five saw Six watching him worriedly.

"Are you okay?" Six asked cautiously. Five nodded slowly, causing the schizophrenic to smile. "That's good. You looked like you'd seen a ghost or something."

"Um," Five started, pointing at the door where Ten had run out, screaming lie a madman. "He, ah... Did you... you understand what he was shou- er- talking about?"

"Something about floodgates and someone dying?" Six answered uncertainly. "Someone must not go somewhere." He paused and then edged away from Five to return to his finger painting. "Ten... He sees things," he said suddenly, not looking at his companion.

Five glanced around the room and then seated himself beside Five. "What kind of things?"

"Who knows."

Five fiddled with his fingers nervously before he finally leaned over to Six and whispered, "I-I think I know what he sees most of the time..." Six stopped painting and looked up at Five questioningly. Five inhaled deeply before he quickly repeated what he had seen moments before. He finished with, "This place makes me feel safe, you know? And yet, suddenly I felt as though there was no place where I could hide. Like... Like something or someone was chasing me. No place safe anymore..." Five pulled his legs to his chest and assumed Nine's famous 'safe' pose.

Six listened quietly, shaking his head slowly once he was sure that Five was finished. "Who knows," he said softly, grabbing a fresh sheet of paper to paint on. "Who knows..."

**Several hours later...**

Three and Four were curled up on a couch in the lobby, reading a thick encyclopedia that they had been given by their mother. She hadn't been gone for more than five minutes and already they had read through a quarter of the book. They had blocked their ears to the sounds of the outside world to the point where nothing could bother or distract them in any way. And yet, they still managed to hear the scream clearly as though they were listening intently for the sound.

"NOOOOO! I _REFUSE_! Youcan'tmakemegiveupmyonlyweaponsofdefense! DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Ten had the appearance of a young man with a minimal amount of exercise. He had long, thin arms and legs and he lacked muscles of any kind. Nurses and doctors were often surprised by his ability to run around and act like a normal, hyper-active teen, so it was quite a shock to everyone to see this supposedly weak, muscle-less man dragging _at least_ half a dozen doctors with only slight difficulty.

"Itoldyoutoletgoofmeyou_monsters_!" Ten shrieked, giving a sharp jerk forward and shaking his arms in an effort to dislodge the men. "Youcannottakethemaway!"

"Look, kid," one of the doctors snapped, tightening his hold around the patient's waist, "we _need_ to clip your nails. We were- oof- specifically ordered to!"

Ten let out a howl of frustration before screaming, "Mylastlineofdefense! Donotremovemy_lastlineofdefense_! _**They**_willcomeandeatyou! Allofyou! GETOFFME!"

The twins, naturally curious as to what was going on, jumped off their couch, leaving the book in their place, and ran over to a free nurse. They flashed several hand signs and then pointed at the howling mass of doctors, all of whom were trying to hold down the patient and failing spectacularly.

Understanding what they were asking, the nurse answered, "We were told to keep Richard's nails trimmed regularly. Apparently they're just as dangerous with him as knives are to a severely homicidal patient."

"TheevilwillcomeandIwon'tbeprepared!"

"I never thought that he'd react so... _violently_, though." Well, 'violent' wasn't really the right word. Ten's eyes flashed dangerously as he struggled and squirmed, trying to detach the men from him. To say that he was dangerous at that moment was a severe understatement. It was obvious that he would be a danger to himself and anyone he came across if allowed to wander.

"Get _down!_" a doctor yelled, jumping onto the pile and grabbing Ten's head. Pulling back, he soon found the patient toppling backwards into an ungraceful heap with the other doctors piling on top of him to pin him down. All the doctors believed that he would be much easier to detain and much safer now that he was on his back.

If ever a greater miscalculation had ever been made, it has yet to be found.

As soon as Ten was pinned against the floor, something in his mind snapped. For a moment, all was silent and the doctors believed that Ten was beginning to calm down. As soon as Ten felt the pressure on his legs released ever so slightly, he jerked his left leg sharply, connecting it with the ankle of one of the men holding him down. If that wasn't bad enough, he managed to hit the small bundle of nerves in said ankle, causing the doctor to jump back with a cry of pain.

After that, everything was chaos. The doctor that he had kicked had been pressing against his side, so there really wasn't a whole lot of good done there. However, the sudden movement and yelp distracted the other doctors. One of the doctors that was pinning his arm to the ground began to rise, realized his mistake, and tried to return to his original position when said hand twisted free and connected with his face. With a muffled howl, the man pulled away while trying to stop the bleeding of his most likely broken nose.

With one hand free, Ten was, perhaps, more dangerous on his back than if he were on his stomach with all limbs free. When he had begun spazzing, several nurses and doctors ran off to grab something to sedate him. By the time they got back, however, they were met with a rather bloody scene. No less than three doctors were nursing broken hands, a nurse and two doctors were busy trying to stop the heavy flow of blood from their noses (one nose was definitely broken but the other two were unsure), two carers had bruises on their legs from being kicked, and one doctor had claw and bite marks all up his arms and several on his legs.

While Ten himself couldn't be seen, having just left the room, his cries of "Not the jacket! NOT THE JACKET!" could be heard clearly.

"The guy's gone psycho!" one of the doctors snapped, rubbing his arm where he had been clawed.

One of the nurses retorted, "Well, we were warned that anything might set him off. I didn't think he was capable of doing such a mass amount of damage, though."

"Id won' stdob bleedig!"

Three and Four glanced at each other and both nodded quickly. A long series of rapid hand signs were flashed and then the pair took off in search of the rest of their group.

Ten ran screaming down the halls. By this point, everything he said was nothing more than unintelligible babble, though, so everyone who heard him wondered what the heck he was talking about. Grabbing the door of a random room, Ten fling it open and found himself looking into the art room. There was a window across from him and he considered jumping through it when he spotted Nine standing next to Six.

"NINE!" he screamed, darting into the room and flinging himself onto the floor. Grabbing onto one of Nine's legs, he wailed, "I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry! Theevilwascomingandtheytriedtotakeawaymylastlineofdefense! Theyscaredme_I'msorry_andImighthavehurtsomeone! Don'tletthemtakemeaway!"

Nine let out a sharp squeak when Ten grabbed him and started to pull away. When his friend began to babble and scream, he froze and listened carefully to try and make sense of the situation. Looking down, he found himself looking into the teary eyes of the now crying Ten. "Er... Ho-how many?" he asked slowly, not really sure he wanted to know.

"One... Two..." Ten squeaked. There was a pause and then he wailed, "I don't know! Nine, I think..." His voice trailed away to a sad whine.

"Well, it's better than last time, at least," Nine mumbled darkly.

Six stopped staring at Ten and asked, "Last time?"

"About five people had to go to a hospital, three quit on the spot, and about six others had minor injuries. Not counting stuff like bruises. Otherwise you add another ten or twelve people."

Six jumped slightly and quickly edged away. Nine, however, shook his leg gently to try and shake Ten off him. "Let go," he snapped.

Ten burst into fresh tears as he tightened his grip on Nine's leg and cried, "No! They'llputmeinthejacket!"

"He's over here!" Nine and Ten looked at the doorway where a rapidly growing crowd of carers were gathering. Ten hesitated for only a moment and then he grabbed onto Nine's shirt. "Youcan'ttakemeaway!" he screamed, pulling himself up. He rubbed his right cheek, smearing the trail of tears, as he cautiously positioned himself behind Nine. "Theywannagivemethejacket. Idon'twantthejacket. Nine... Help me..." Ten whimpered and gripped Nine's shirt tightly.

Nine looked at the wall of people and sighed. There was no way he was going to be able to break through, and he wasn't nearly stupid enough to try and jump out of a second floor window. They were basically trapped in the room and there wasn't much of anything that Nine could do about it. Correction, there wasn't _a thing_ that Nine could do about it.

It was about the time that Nine had come to this conclusion that everyone panicked and began shouting "Stop!" "Don't do it, kid!" and other such stuff. Nine also realized that Ten was no longer gripping his shirt. There was a sudden shattering of glass, causing Nine to jump and spin around just in time to watch Ten jump out of a large whole in the broken window which had been created by throwing a chair through it.

It was at that point that Nine remembered that, while _he_ might not be stupid enough to jump out of a two story window, _Ten_ would be desperate enough to jump out of a _three_ story window. It was amazing what a person could do when desperate enough.


	4. AUTHOR NOTE IMPORTANT!

As much as I hate to do this, I'm putting this story on temporary hiatus. Why? Because in one week I somehow managed to get all of June triple-booked. I don't think there's a single day that I won't be running around to _somewhere! _But I DO mean that this hiatus will only be **TEMPORARY!** For the month of June (and, perhaps, July) I won't be posting any chapters, fanart, or anything. Too much crud happening and being hit and run over repeatedly by life (no kidding!). I might keep this story shut down for up to three months simply so that I can catch up and have something to post. The **latest** that I will get a chapter up will be _**August 31st!**_ I don't plan on making it that late, but, if stuff happens, that's the latest that I plan on posting. There. Now I _have_ to post something!

See you soon! And, again, I'm very sorry about this.


	5. AUTHOR NOTE! MORE IMPORTANT!

IMPORTANT! So, have you been wondering why I haven't posted anything yet? Well, that's mainly because of a lot of last minute plans which completely ruined my schedule. So, I finally got back and I decided to reread what I had to orient myself and remember exactly where I was going with this.

Oh. My. God.

This had to be one of the saddest excuses for a story I've ever written. D: There are so many plot holes it's not even funny. The characters aren't all that well written, no one is getting enough time, and everything is very confused. It's just... sad.

BUT! Yes, the all important word; "**BUT**"! I really liked what I had here. SO, here's the plan:

I'm going to rewrite this. This will take some time because I'm NOT going to write a chapter and then post. I've found that, with my chaotic schedule, this won't work out. I'm not going to post anything until I have** at least** two chapters. THEN -and only then- will I post the first chapter. This way, if something happens and I can't write for a while, I'll still have something to post and everyone won't be wondering if I died or something. 'Kay? When I am ready to post the rewritten version of this story, then I will delete this story. Most likely, I'll keep the titles the same so that there's less confusion and such.

Thanks so much for bearing with me! I have a lot of projects that I'm working on so I tend to work on things by what I consider to be the most important (or what I have time for). I'm working on two other stories (one of which I plan on publishing!) and two dollfie projects (google 'dollfie' if you don't know what that is).

THANKS AGAIN! And **SORRY!**


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